Jerusalem Attractions - the complete guide

Christian Quarter

About

Occupying the northwest quadrant of the Old City, and the second-largest of its four ancient quarters (Moslem, Christian, Armenian and Jewish), is the Christian Quarter, one of the epicenters of worldwide Christianity. It is the first part of the Old City most visitors to Jerusalem see, as it lies just beyond Jaffa Gate, the traditional pilgrim's entrance to the city.

A warren of broad streets connected by winding, narrow alleys, the Christian Quarter is home to one of the most significant holy sites in all Christianity: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the enormous and timeworn edifice built over the traditional sites of the crucifixion, entombment and resurrection of Jesus Christ). The Quarter essentially orbits around the multi-denominational Church, counting among its residents numerous monks, nuns, priests and other religious functionaries, many of whom are attached to the prominent Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and Greek Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Other popular and important locations in the quarter include: the neo-Romanesque Lutheran Church of the Redeemer; the Muristan, a marketplace built over the ruins of a longtime Knights Hospitaller hospital for pilgrims and Jerusalem residents; and the Christian Quarter Shuk, a dizzying array of mostly identical memorabilia and gift stalls that fades imperceptibly into the more functional Moslem Quarter souk.